The Republic freshman girls finished a dominating season with a 51-39 win over Ozark, capturing the Central Ozark Conference title and running their final record to 17-0.
Playing without the injured Brooke Stanfield, Republic used a balanced offense to beat Ozark for a third time this season and the tenth time without a loss since 7th grade. Three players scored in double figures. Jordan Kabetske had 14 for Republic. Alexis Ladwig scored 12, and Brylee Argo added 11.
The victory runs the overall Republic girls basketball record to 76-0 this season. The freshmen join the 7th and 8th grade teams in finishing with unblemished records. For first-year head coach Sara Barnhart, it’s a great start to a coaching career.
“I knew I had a good group of girls, but to go undefeated all the way through wasn’t really what I was expecting,” says Barnhart. “I’m really blessed to have these girls for my first year. They really showed me what winning is.
“I try not to bring it up,” Barnhart said of the 76-game winning streak, “but I know that they know in the back of their mind. Any human reaction, you don’t want to be the one to break the streak. I’m pretty sure it was in the back of their mind, and was highly motivating for most of them.”
Republic only led 18-16 at halftime, but outscored Ozark 14-9 in the 3rd quarter to take command. They led 32-25 after three, and put the game away from there.
“We came out after halftime and exploded,” says Barnhart. “I told them shots are going to fall. You have 16 minutes to go 10-0 (against Ozark all-time), and they responded to that. We kept it all positive and they responded really well to it.
“We played better than last time (against Ozark). We were focused, we took care of the ball and played as a team.”
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